We all know that everything in this world receives it’s life from the sun- everything comes from the sun. And people of faith also know that everything we have, everything we are comes from God- everything is given by God.
And yet, in our gospel this week (Lk 17), Christ tells the Samaritan leper that it is his faith that has healed him. Earlier, Christ tells the disciples that it is their faith that could bestow forgiveness, their faith that could command the tree to move, if they had but a little seed of it. Even though we know everything comes from God, the gospel tells us that we must begin to grow a seed in us if the power of faith is to be effective.
But what is this seed that we are responsible for? What is this faith that only we can give?
A famous philosopher, Johan Fichte, wrote, “Faith today is no longer believing in a truth that you cannot prove, faith today means that we begin to live what we already know, to give confidence to what we believe.’
Faith means is giving confidence to what we have experienced to be true.
Dear friends, may we all learn to let go of crippling self doubts that sap our confidence. May the seed of confidence grow in our hearts so that we can live what we know, so that we can mean what we say. Then the faith that is ours to grow will become a power in us. Together with the light of the Son, we will have the power to forgive-the power to heal.
Contemplation by Rev. Jonah Evans